Posted on 07/20/2018 11:53:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
CHEVIOT, OH (WLWT/CNN) – A restaurant owner in Ohio is facing legal questions after offering a discount to churchgoers.
"This was the furthest thing from my mind when we came up with this idea," said Justin Watson, the owner of Starters Cafe in Cheviot, OH.
Watson opened the restaurant about seven weeks ago.
He said all he was trying to do was stir up some business with his discount offer to churches. Instead, he stirred up a hornet's nest.
"Any congregation, any religion, any area, whatever, as long as you brought me a church bulletin, I would give you 10 percent off your meal for the day," Watson said. "It seemed pretty simple, and here we are."
Watson said he got angry comments from some saying he was discriminating against non-religious people.
Someone also passed along a form letter from the nonprofit Freedom from Religion Foundation, telling people to alert the owner to the illegality of the practice.
Jim Helton with American Atheists said legality is not always clear-cut in such cases, but he said Watson's actions appear illegal.
"In this case, it was illegal because it was only offering to churches," said Helton, adding that the discount is different from a senior citizen discount or a military discount because religion or lack of religion are considered protected classes.
But there's not a consensus on the issue.
Attorney Jason Phillabaum said he doesn't see anything wrong with giving a discount to churchgoers.
"The law prohibits discrimination. And in this particular case, he's not denying service. He's offering a discount if someone does something specific like bring in a church bulletin," Phillabaum said.
To be on the safe side, and to make his offer to even more people, Watson has changed his discount policy.
"In response, we just removed the 10 percent offer and sent a letter of apology and tried to clear the board. So now we're just offering, on Sunday, noon to four, 10 percent for everybody," Watson said.
It's a deal he thinks will be more universally palatable.
funny how the media tells us when it’s ok to discriminate (religious, political) and when it’s not ok to discriminate (sexual). Sometimes I just wish ww3 would break out and give people a real reason to complain and worry
Should change it to a 90% additional charge for anyone showing a Freedom from Religion Foundation pamphlet.
It’s coming from the deliberate abuse of a poorly written amendment that was originally intended to protect blacks from being denied necessary services.
It’s being turned on its head by the gay lobby and the abortion-atheist lobby.
Well they can go to Hell!
Does this mean that student discounts are illegal?
Careful what you wish for....MSM is helping to push for the same thing...hoping President Trump will be tricked into starting that war...
Call it a “Gospel lunch Sunday” and play gospel on the PA. This makes sense for other reasons. Not all revivals begin in pews.
Sometimes conservatives bitch too much too.
“...because religion or lack of religion are considered protected classes.”
This must be the atheist that is standing up for the bakery that didn’t bake a cake for a gay wedding.
/s
Baking the cake never was the question. It was inscribing it to the occasion — a 1st Amendment freedom issue.
It’s his business and he can do what he wants. Live with it you radicals.
But he’s not free from the consequences.
Amendment number, please!
Regards,
The poor guys just opened the business. Weren’t bitchin about nothing, just trying to drum up business.
Gotta wonder if the “war on Christ” is entirely from the left side. The Cross had two arms, didn’t it?
Sometimes what we are civically free to do isn’t always the godly thing.
In this case there is a problem. Does being a worshiper mean going to some conventional format “church”? Often those who found Jesus attractive didn’t go to the temple at all. They were unclean. Yet for them, too, the loaves and fishes were multiplied.
Talking about the conservative alassing about them.
Atheism is not a religion—there is no unlawful discrimination here.
It’s kind of a “worship of mind” religion. Atheist groups have managed to acquire some of the same legal umbrellas as religious groups. Some tolerate civic Christianity, some want to hound it away.
Just buy ads in the bulletins - a “clip this coupon” thing.
Heck, you can buy such ads in newspapers, so why not church bulletins?
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